About us

We strive to make a platform where it’s easy, enticing and worthwhile for anyone to help media cover the news. We firmly believe Byrd can help bring real stories to life that otherwise wouldn’t see the light of day.

There is a jungle of email addresses and phone numbers where people can send in their photos and videos to news media. It's outdated! We have created a service that is a one-stop shop. By uploading your photo or video to Byrd, you make it accessible to a bunch of media straight away and can sell your work many times. As a journalist, you can request specific content, and you will not spend precious time on verification, clearing rights, and negotiating prices.

Along with Byrd’s photographers and our customers we can bring user-generated content to the next level. We help distributing and verifying photos and videos from all over the world, so journalists can turn them into news stories.

Meet the team

Mikkel Westphal Stephensen

Co-founder

Mikkel has a background in journalism. He needed Byrd in his own job and decided to create it with his brother, Morten. He's making sure we have the product our customers need and helping them get the most out of it.

Fun fact: Mikkel has a tattoo of his favourite band, Blink-182. So do two of his friends. Because why wouldn't you dedicate a piece of your body to your favourite band?

Morten Westphal Stephensen

Co-founder

Morten is an experienced project manager and media advisor. He founded Byrd with his brother, Mikkel, and he is focusing on the commercial side of Byrd.

Fun fact: Morten had very long hair back in the 90's. He has gotten many haircuts since then but he kept his ponytail in a picture frame and still has it at his house. He doesn't have any other hair framed though.

Emmy Richardsson

Marketing Manager

Emmy makes sure that Byrd's tribe of photographers is ever-growing. She is running our digital marketing campaigns and keep track of what our photographers want.

Fun fact: Emmy is a people person. She once attended a wedding without having met the couple before. She ended up being one of the four bridesmaids!

Simon Blixenkrone

Frontend Developer

Simon does not have any kids yet - but he does have the the Byrd web app. That's his baby! He loves coding, building and developing. He turns ideas into life.

Fun fact: Simon enjoys coffee, but he can't stand unfair prices. So he spent three years drinking a type of instant coffee that made him a little bit sick, because it was priced fair.

Christian Otte

Digital designer

Christian is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to digital trends. He has a keen eye for design and always keep up with the latest craze.

Fun fact: Christian hates poorly calibrated TV's. He can absolutely put all social norms aside to calibrate a strangers television. Don't even get him started on Motion Flow.

Sergey Korobkov

Android Developer

There are more than 25.000 type of Android devices. Sergey makes sure, Byrd can run on them all.. okay, most of them at least!

Fun fact: All those hours coding has given Sergey super strong fingers. That comes in handy when he climbs and hikes. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a great song - but it is also the soundtrack to Sergey's life.

Pasha Samonin

Backend Developer

Pavel is the king of the Byrd backend. He is the reason that Byrd can run smooth, that stories can be uploaded and that payments are fast and safe.

Fun fact: Pavel might be a coder, but he is also a brawler. Only in the ring, of course. He is practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu where he wins for the most part. Yet, he still always struggle against his three year old son.

Sasha Zaporozhchenko

iOS Developer

Sasha is our iOS guy. He appreciates great UX, good design and a smooth app. You will usually see Sasha with AirPods, because that is the kind of fanboy he is.

Fun fact: On his photo he is wearing a disguise - because usually he is wearing a Pink Floyd shirt. He enjoys a bit of StarCraft when he's not coding, but when asked if we could put this on Sasha's biography he replied "Better write that im driving a honda shadow xD coz girls like bikers more than gamers"

Steven Knap

Chief Photographer

If something is newsworthy is going on, Steven knows about it. As the Chief Photographer, Steven is responsible for assisting all Byrd photographers and making sure that Byrd cover stories as they unfold.

Fun fact: Steven has a lot of ground to cover and he drives more than 40.000 kilometers yearly. Living in Scandinavia means you can experience snow and ice, and Steven handles that with his own one-of-a-kind custom 3D-printed ice scraper.